Gaffney, South Carolina (5/7/16) – Chris Ferguson of Mt. Holly, NC only needed one lap of qualifying to bump Johnny Pursley of Clover, SC off the VP Fastest Qualifier rank by a margin of 0.040 seconds. Pursley set the standard on the first lap of qualifying, while Ferguson completed the bookends with nearly an identical lap, only a blink of an eye faster, as the last car to go under the clock.
The top four positions from time trials moved into the feature event while the remainder of the 18 car field set their starting positions from two heat races.
Newberry, SC driver Brett Hamm, the CarQuest Auto Parts Rookie of the Year contender, threw down a third-fastest lap, while Ross Bailes bested Dennis Franklin by 0.136 seconds to take fourth.
In the Hoosier Racing Tire Heat Race #1, Josh Langley of Lancaster, SC took top honors over Dennis Franklin, Doug Sanders, Ritchie Corley, Kevin Wilson, Derek Brown and Chase McCormick.
In the American Racer Heat Race #2, Donald Bradsher bested Dean Bowen, Brent Dixon, Scott Shirey, Travis Blackwell, Kenny Rominger, Jr, and Anthony Sanders (who pulled off when the field took the one-to-go indication relinquishing the front row starting spot). The heat race winners were awarded five bonus points for their heat race victories.
Once accepting the lead to turn two on lap one, Ferguson put his brand new Longhorn on cruise-control and seldom had any traffic to contend with en route to his 12th career Clash victory, moving him into a 4th place tie with Hall of Fame racer Billy Hicks who also has 12 Clash wins.
The racing was intense early as many challenges for positions were observed on the events five different restarts, which took a few tense entries three-wide into turn one throughout the field as the drivers knew their only chance to advance potentially was on restarts.
The only major mishap was when Ritchie Corley tagged the wall in turn one, sending him pitside for the night after just 13 laps.
Dennis Franklin used the restarts to advance from the seventh-place starting spot to move into second, but could never move near Ferguson to challenge for the lead.
Johnny Pursley maintained his position throughout the event and finished third, which was good enough to put him in P1 in the Carolina Clash points standings by 2 over Ferguson.
Brett Hamm scored his season high finish with fourth while Donald Bradsher came in fifth.
The Performance Tee’s Hard Charger of the Race was Anthony Sanders, who started the race from the rear after not completing a heat race lap. He advanced from 18th place starting spot to finish 8th. He received 5 bonus points for that effort and will receive a gift voucher from SRI of Concord, NC.
Cherokee Speedway Race Results
1. 22 Chris Ferguson
2. 2 Dennis Franklin
3. 09 Johnny Pursley
4. 18 Brett Hamm
5. 93 Donald Bradsher
6. 87 Ross Bailes
7. 7 Josh Langley
8. 421 Anthony Sanders
9. 1 Brent Dixon
10. 42 Doug Sanders
11. 999 Travis Blackwell
12. 15 Dean Bowen
13. 618 Kevin Wilson
14. 448 Kenny Rominger Jr
15. 10 Scott Shirey
16. 300 Derek Brown
17. 15M Chase McCormick
18. 04 Richie Corley